Bill fold



v c. A. HUMPHREYS BILL FOLD Filed March 15 1922 Patented Oct. 23, 1923. I

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CHARLES A. HUMPHREYS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

' BILL row. I

Application filed March 13, 1922. Serial No. 543,187.

State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Bill Folds, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to bill folds, and the "object of the invention is to provide a. device capable of carrying bills of dilferent denominations and providin safeguards against the inadvertent with rawal of bills of higher denominations. It is common experience for a person carrying a number of bills to inadvertently pay out a bill of higher denomination than intended, or he may, if paying out a bill, receive in change an amount less than he expected and yet not be able to convince himself or the cashier that he did actually hand over a bill, calling for more change than he received. In other words, a man frequently receives or thinks he receives short change, but cannot be sure as to the denomination of'the bill which 'he has tendered to the receiving cashier. The purpose of my invention is to provide means by which these uncertainties may be avoided. In carr ing out the invention, I have ferent compartments for bills of different denomination, which compartments have separate locks or guards, all of which are brought to or are operable from the outside of the cover and are provided with indicia which enable the user to determine at a glance which lock to open or, if,open, from which compartment he withdrew a bill. Another object of the inventionis to provide a device so constructed that the protective features mav be suspended in their op eration if desired, also to provide a construction such that all of the bills may be simultaneously extracted, if desired, without maw,

nipulating the protective elements. Contributory objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.

I accomplish my objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a erspective view of the comprovided a bill fold having difinternal compartments by straps 10, 11 andso' plete. bill fold in folded position such as it Willoccupywhen in the pocket of the owner.

F gure 2 1s a perspective view of the comded, but nevertheless plete device unfo locked;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective showing the protective elements in their relation to each other and to the internal and external covers and device open as to the first looked as to the others,-

Like numerals denote like parts thruout the several views.

In the forms selected .to illustrate the invention, the device has an outerc'over 1 and 1 an inner cover 2, which consist preferably of flexible leather. In the main, they are slightly larger in outline than a bill and are connected at the end by a row of stitchlng 4 7 and at the bottom by a .row of stltching .6. The inner cover or lining is cut away at the corner along the line 7 so as to expose what I will, for convenience, refer to as the lower right corner of the bill. At the 7 end opposite to the stitching 4 there 1s a snap fastener 5 for detachably holding the two covers together at that end.

The device is divided into a number of compartment but 12. The number of these straosmay be va-. ried, but by employing three sets, four compartments are produced, which 1s suflicient for ordinary purposes. In the present case,

I have shown the device as containing a compartment for one-dollar bills 01, five dollar bills b, ten-dollar bills 0, and twentydollar bills d. The lower, inner ends of the 1 straps are all secured by means of the stitching 6. They are arranged parallel to each other and assumes. position which, for convenience, may 'be referred to as vertical. The center strap '10 is single, while the others are arranged alongside each other iu pairs, the two straps 11 lying on either side of thecenter strap 10, and the two straps 12 lying on either side of the straps 11. The outer ends of the straps form flaps 20, 21 and 22, each of which is provided witha snap fastener 24. These flaps are shown to lot) Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the '60 be superposed, the flap 22, which is connected to the straps 12,he1ng the largest and bemg attachable directly to the inner cover 2.

' The'llap 21 overlies a portion of the ilap 22,

and its snap fastener fastens it to flap 22. The flap 2O overlies a portion of flap 21, and

v its snap fastener fastens it to flap 2l.

This may he diflerently stated by saying that in the form shown the three flaps are superposed. The flap which retains the bills of highest denomination attaches directly to the inside of the inner .cover 2.

The flap 21, which retains the hills of next which the respective flaps protect.

. straps l0 and 11. Similarly the bills 0 of In order to prevent undue thickness of material at the upper edge of. the inner cover '2, l have brought the straps over the upper edge of the inner cover before having them join their respective flaps. Consequently all the straps make direct contact with the upper edge of the inner cover.

In practice, the device is carried in the pocket in the folded condition shown in Figure 1. In order to hold it thus folded a map fastener 36 is provided. This is in accordance with common practice in bill folds. When it is desired to take out one or more bills, the owner unfastens the fastener 36 and unfolds the device to the position shown in Figure 2. The space between the outer cover and the strap 10 contains thebills of lowest denominations, for example, ones and twos; These are indicated by the reference characteristic. a. The bilQls b of next higher denomination, for illustration, the lives pass between the next higher denomination, for example,.the tens, lie between the straps 11 and 12; and the hills 02 of highest denomination, for example the twenties, lie between the straps l2, and the inner cover 2. If the owner is to pay out but a small amount, he lifts out one or more hills of all denomination, and it will be noted that these are "accessible without unfastening any of the straps or tlaps. Thus, for ordinary small transactions my hill "fold peratesin as simple manner as the simplest. of them. Nothingis required except to lift out the proper number of hills. The owner also has the protection of mowing that if the flaps are all intact, that is, all remain fastened, he has not paid out any billsescept oft-the lowest 'denonations' It, now, a bill of matinee required, he will open up the larger flap 21,

and if one or more bills of the highest denomination are required, he will open up the'largest flap 22 Thus, it will be observed that no special manipulation is required when the ownerwishes the. smallest bill, but as the value of the bill wanted increases the size of the flap increases, and the highest bills are exposed only after the detachment of the largest. Thus, the probability of inadvertently withdrawing a bill I of a larger denomination than is necessary is reduced to" a minimum. Furthermore, so longas the flaps guarding any particular compartment remain fastened, the owner has the satisfaction of knowing that he has not paid out a bill from that compartment. in other words, until the flaps are again attached, the owner lniows the denomination of he bill or bills that he has-paid out.

The fact that theinner cover 2 is cut away at the lower right corner, for example, along the line '1 enables the owner to quick- 1y determine at any "moment how much money remains within the device In other words, he can count his money without disturbing the protective elements. In case he wishes to withdraw the entire contents be withdrawn without disturbing the condition of the flaps 20, 21 and 22.

From the above description taken in connection with the drawings, which form part of this specification, it will be evident that my device is provided with simple but etlicient means for protecting an owner llO against his own carelessness in withdrawing bills, and it also enables him to prove after he has withdrawn the bill what its denomination was. Yet, with these safeguards it is still possible to withdraw all of the bills simultaneously, if desired, and furthermore, the owner is able to count his moneyat any time without disturbing the bills or the devices which protect them. Fractically speaking, the device is no more cumbersome than if the protective devices were absent, for the straps are not superposed,

but are distributed longitudinally of the device and this holds true even at the upper edge of the inner cover, with the result that "only one layer of leather is added at this point to what would be present if the pro- 5 evident that when the device is in folded condition as shown in Figure 1, there is little difference in appearance between these devices and an ordinary bill fold. The flaps 20, 21 and 22 are all in the interior, and thus they are not only hidden but are protected from becoming accidentally unfastened.

It will be understood that while I have referred to and illustrated the invention as applied to bill folds, it is equally applicaor ments have different values; and the ble to walletsat least so far as the protective straps and flaps are concerned. These will operate as'wellin a device which is kept fiat and never given the final folding of Figure 1 as in an actual folding devace.

Furthermore, while the device is particu larly useful for carrying paper money, it frequently happens that papers or docuprotective elements may be used to protect the ing detachablv attachable to more valua-bleones in the same way they are used to protect the more valuable bills Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A bill fold, having two covers adapted to contain a bill between them, and a strap located between the covers for separating r the bills. said strap being extended whereby it may be brought out around the edge of one of the covers, and means for detachably fastening the end of the strap to the outside of the cover. I

2. A bill fold having an inner and an outer cover, a plurality of flaps adapted to lie outside of one of the covers, and straps assing from the flaps over the upper edge ofv the same cover and extending down to the bottom of the device and being there fastened, at least one of the flaps having 1W0 straps leading from it and arranged along the two sides of the strap leading from another of thefiaps.

3. A bill fold having an inner and an outer cover, a. flap detachably attached to the outside of one of the covers, a second fla detachably attached to the outside of straps leading from said flaps the first flap, over the upper edge of the same cover and down int-o the bill fold to the bottom thereof, where they are fastened, the straps leading from the first flap ranging along the two sides of the strap leading from the second flap.

4. A bill fold having an inner and an outer cover, and three superposed flaps, the first flap being detachably attachable to the outside of one of the covers, the second bethe first flap. and the third being detachably attachable to the second flap, two straps spaced apart and passing up from the first flap over the top edge of the same cover and down to the bottom of the device where they are faste-ned, two other straps spaced apart and passing up from the second flap over the top edge of the same cover and down to the bottom of the devicewhere they are fastened, the last two straps lying between the first two straps and making direct contact with the edge of the cover and another strap passing up over the top edge of the same cover and down to the bottom of the device where it is fastened, the last mentioned strap. lying mentioned straps, and making direct contact with the edge of the cover.

5. A bill fold having an inner and an outer cover stitched together along the bottom and along one end, detachably attached together at the opposite end, and a plurality of straps lying between the covers and running up from the bottom of the device and extending over the top edge of one of the covers and over to the outside thereof,-and means for separately-and detachably attaching the outer ends of the straps to the same cover. 1 I

6. A bill fold having an inner and an .outer cover stitched together along the bota plurality of straps lying etween the-covers and running up from the bottom of the between the previously,

device and extending over the top edge of one of the covers and over to the outside thereofi'and means for separately and detachably attaching the outer ends of the straps to the same cover.

7. A de'vice of the class described having an inner and outer cover stitched together at the bottom and along at least one end and divided into a plurality of compartments by straps fastened to' and extending upward fromthe bottom,- allof the straps passing over the upper edgeof one of the covers and thence downward to the outside of the coverand provided with means at their outer ends whereby they may be held fast to the cover.

8. A device of the class described having an inner and outer cover stitched together at the bottom and along at least one end and divided into a plurality of compartments'by straps fastened to and extending upward from the bottom, all of the straps passing over the upper-edge of one of the covers and thence downward to the outside of the cover, the straps'being parallel to each other and having flaps .of different sizes at their outer ends, and means on said flaps whereby they may be fastened to the cover. i

9. A device of the class described having an inner andl outer coverstitchecl together at the bottom and along at least one endl anol divided into a plurality of compartments by straps fastenedl to passing over the upper edge of one of the covers and thence downwardly to the out- .side of the cover, the straps being parallel to each other and having flaps of (litlerent ant extendingthe value of which increases 5 upward from the bottom, all 'of the mraps to the size of the tla'p.

sizes at their outer endls, andl means on snirl 1e flaps whereby they may he fastened tothe cover, the flaps having numerical indieia, in proportion In Witness whereof I have hereunto sub- 15 scrzhecl my name.

I (CHARLES A. HUMIEHRJEYS. 

